Ryan Card `Victim' Gets Wish

July 25, 1993|By Gary Reinmuth.

Surprise!

If your name is Joe Irmen of Addison, owner of Ball-Mart in Itasca, the same Joe Irmen who mistakenly sold that $1,200 Nolan Ryan rookie card to then 12-year-old Brian Wrzesinski for $12 on April 20, 1990, and your wife, Jackie, hasn't told you her secret yet, this little story ought to be a real eye-opener.

Forget the morning coffee, Joe, and read this:

You're the new owner of a Nolan Ryan game-worn Texas Rangers 1993 complete full home uniform.

With no opposing bidders, Jackie Irmen bought it for a cool $11,000 Saturday night at the National Sports Collectors Convention Auction, conducted by Leslie Hindman & Associates.

She thought you might like it.

"It's more or less a gift," said Jackie. "He's paying for it. But he doesn't know yet. When I tell him, he's going to be excited. Joe saw the uniform in the auction book and just casually said, `You know, since I was the one who sold the Nolan Ryan card, it'd be kind of nice to have that.' Now he does."

After her bid was accepted at the podium, a jittery Jackie leapt out of her seat and left the room to arrange for pickup of the Ryan uniform, which Ryan has agreed to autograph.

She was there to make one bid and one bid only.

"My husband bids at auctions all the time," she said. "This was my first auction so I was a little nervous, yeah."

The sale of the rookie card by one of Joe Irmen's clerk's to Wrzesinski resulted in a lengthy legal battle. Irmen sued the 12-year-old, seeking the return of the card or $1,188 in cash. Then, on the eve of a hearing on Irmen's suit, Wrzesinski traded the Ryan card. The suit was settled on April 22, 1991 when the parties involved agreed to auction the card and donate the proceeds to charity. On June 22, 1991, the card was sold at auction for $5,000 to Tony Del Angel of Lisle.

If Irmen's bid was the most touching of Saturday night's Hindman auction, it wasn't the only big one.

For $22,000, a New York realtor and collector, who wanted to remain anonymous, nabbed a Roberto Clemente autographed game-worn jersey from 1970-71. It was one of the first double-knits used in the major leagues. He outbid Ron Atlas, a serious collector and president of a Wheeling aquatic facilities company, who said before the night's activities began that he planned "to do everything I can to make this evening a success."

"I'm buying; I'm selling," said Atlas. "I think we need a Chicago auction. Chicago collectors have nothing. New York does, California does. I'm hoping this will be successful because I don't like to travel."

Atlas' wish was granted. The Ryan and Clemente jersey bids set the tone for a spirited night of bidding on sports memorabilia, which contrasted sharply with Thursday's lukewarm bidding on baseball cards.

"I think the people are soured on the price level that the better cards have gone to," said Atlas. "I think the consignors Thursday had unrealistic expectations. Many real good items were passed by. The (complete 1915) Cracker Jack set that was passed by was passed by last year as well. It could have sold at $85,000."

The auction book price on the Cracker Jack set was $130,000-$140,000.

A large number of boxing items, including a 1961 Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston program for $1,600, sold early in Saturday's bidding. A set of Carlton Fisk game-worn spikes went for $350.